The silent, rapid footsteps grew louder, echoing down the corridor towards the main chamber. The frantic, desperate sounds of the sanctuary's defense were being overwhelmed by the guttural noises of the new Void manifestations and the constant, pulsing thrumming. Fear was a physical weight, pressing down on everyone.
Kael stood trembling beside Elara, his small body tense. He couldn't feel the cold floor, couldn't feel the tremor in his own hands, but he saw the raw terror on Elara's face, heard the sounds of their impending doom. He felt Vispera's desperate scream in his soul, the primal urge to fight, to protect.
The decision was made. There was no other choice. Not when The Void was breaching their last defenses. Not when Elara was in danger.
Drawing on Vispera's frantic presence, on his own desperate need, Kael reached out. It wasn't the calculated test from before. It was a raw, desperate release fueled by instinct and the terrifying need to survive.
A blinding wave of pure, golden light erupted from Kael's body, not a focused beam, but an outward explosion that filled the main chamber, pushing back the shadows and the grey. It was stronger than his previous controlled attempts, perhaps weaker than the uncontrolled surge that broke the door, but potent enough to make the very air crackle.
The new Void manifestations, just entering the chamber, shrieked – not with sound, but with a horrifying, silent resonance that vibrated through the bones. They were faster, more agile than the Husks, figures cloaked in deeper shadow, but the light struck them nonetheless. Their forms wavered violently, dissolving at the edges, staggering back.
The light washed over the desperate, fighting survivors too, leaving them momentarily stunned, their eyes wide with shock and fear. It illuminated the chaos, the fallen defenders, the advancing Void creatures.
As the light reached its peak, the Bedel hit.
It wasn't the loss of joy, or love, or physical sensation, or basic knowledge this time. This Bedel was specific, targeted, and deeply personal to his current world. A tearing, ripping sensation flared behind Kael's eyes, directly connected to his memory of the sanctuary.
A face. A voice. A presence.
He could no longer recall Captain's face. He knew of a leader, someone named Captain who gave orders, but the visual memory, the specific features, the way Captain looked when he was grim, or weary, or assessing Kael – it was gone. Replaced by a featureless blank where that image should be.
The light vanished as Kael gasped, stumbling back, his hands flying to his face, not from pain (he couldn't feel physical pain), but from the sheer horror of the new, targeted void in his mind. The sounds of the battle, momentarily stunned by the light, resumed, though perhaps with less immediate pressure in the chamber.
"Kael!" Elara cried, rushing to his side as he reeled from the Bedel. She saw his disorientation, the look in his eyes that she was coming to dread – the sign of something stolen.
Captain, who had been fighting nearby, turned at the light, his face illuminated by its dying glow. He saw Kael stumble, saw Elara rush to him. He saw the return of the Bedel's terrible aftermath.
Kael looked at Captain, at the man who was his protector, his judge, the figure of authority. He knew who he was in concept, but when he looked at his face, there was only a blur. The memory of those features, etched by hardship and command, was gone.
Captain reached Kael just as Elara was trying to steady him. He saw the terror in Kael's eyes, the way he looked through him, unable to focus on his face.
"Kael? What is it?" Captain asked, his voice strained, fearful.
Kael looked up at him, his expression one of profound confusion, unable to place the features he was seeing. The Bedel had taken Captain's face.
The chapter ends with the main chamber in chaos, the Void attack momentarily disrupted but not necessarily defeated, Kael reeling from the targeted Bedel of forgetting Captain's face, and Captain realizing, with chilling horror, the personal and specific nature of the price Kael just paid.